DMP Officials said works of another 23 police stations (PS) in the DMP area will be completed by 2006.

Prime Minister Khaleda Zia will inaugurate the six stations in an official ceremony at China-Bangladesh Friendship Conference Centre at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar tomorrow.

Of the new ones, New Market PS will be attached to South zone, Paltan to East zone, Shah Ali and Adabar to West zone, and Turag and Khilkhet PSs to North zone of the DMP.

The DMP authorities say these will ease up the pressure on the existing 22 stations besides helping reduce crime.

"As population in Dhaka increases with expansion of the city and rise in the crimes, we're aiming to cut the criminal tendencies among the dwellers and thus improve the law and order," DMP Commissioner SM Mizanur Rahman told The Daily Star yesterday.

"Since the coverage area for each police station will decrease with addition of these new stations, the policemen will be able to work better to meet our aim as well as the people's expectation," he added.

Infrastructure and recruitment for these are about to be completed, said another DMP source.

Offices of the New Market and Paltan PS will be housed in Dhanmondi and Motijheel police stations.

The Dhanmondi PS will shift to a rented house on Dhanmondi road No. 6 while the Motijheel PS to a rented house in Motijheel Commercial Area.

Office of Turag PS will be in the police outpost at Diabari while Khilkhet PS at Khilkhet Police Outpost.

The Shah Ali and Adabar PSs, meanwhile, have been accommodated in rented houses.

Most of the manpower needed for the new police stations has already been recruited.

Each of the existing 22 police stations on average has 20 sub-inspectors (SIs) and 80 constables besides the officer-in-charge (OC) and his deputy, second officer.

For each of the new stations, 14 SIs and 50 constables have already been recruited besides OCs and second officers, said sources.

Of the recruits, some were taken from the existing PSs, some from reserve police forces, and some others from outside the DMP.

Forces of two of the six new PSs will have to face acute accommodation problem, as there is no housing arranged yet for them in the buildings of Shah Ali and Adabar police stations. Staff of the Khilkhet and Turag PSs too will have to face the crisis, as the arrangements are not adequate to house the full staff.

The DMP South zone presently has Kotwali, Lalbagh, Ramna, Dhanmondi, Hazaribagh, and Kamrangirchar police stations. Besides the addition of New Market PS, it will have four more stations, Bangshal, Chawkbazar, Shahbagh and Kalabagan, said a DMP source.

In addition to the Paltan PS, the DMP East zone, which currently has Motijheel, Demra, Shyampur, Khilgaon, Sutrapur, and Sabujbagh stations, will have Shahjahanpur, Jatrabari, Kadamtoli, Dakkhingaon, Rampura, Wari, and Gandaria PSs to be added. The Sabujbagh PS will be split into Mugda and Basabo, added the source.

Besides Shah Ali and Adabar, six more new police stations will be added to DMP West zone. The new ones will be named Darus Salam, Rupnagar, Shilpanchal, Rayerbazar, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, and Bhasantek PSs. This zone presently has Mirpur, Pallabi, Tejgaon, Mohammadpur and Kafrul PSs.

In the North zone of the DMP, five new police stations -- Dakkhinkhan, Uttarkhan, Bhatara, Banani and Balurghat -- will be set up by 2006. This zone now has Uttara, Badda, Gulshan, Cantonment and Zia International Airport PSs.